I do agree that (unfortunatly) copy-cat and spoof/ghost ads “is always going to be a problem in the industry” but why cant it at l east be marginilized? Lets colectivly attempt to confine this “problem” and do our best NOT to make it spill out to the Creativity Awards. is that too much to ask?!!!what do you think?

Lateral Thinking: When a low probability line of thought leads to an effective idea, there is a “Eureka” moment and at once the low-probability approach acquires the highest probability. – Edward De Bono. Excerpt from a book by John Townsend & Jacques Favier titled The Creative Manager’s Pocketbook. Page: 2. ISBN: 1-870471-69-5.

A copycat is a person that mimics or repeats the behavior of another. The term is often derogatory, suggesting a lack of originality. The expression may derive from kittens that learned by imitating the behaviors of their mothers. – Wikipedia.

Plagiarism: The abuse of another’s original work by copying it and passing it off as one’s own. As defined in Alastair Campbell book titled The Designer’s Lexicon. Page: 293 ISBN: 0-304-35505-4.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of thievery” excerpt from a book by Capsule titled Design Matters. Page: 84. ISBN -13:978-1-59253-341-1.

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4 Responses to “Creatives’ sticky subject”

now you guys have burnt down all FP7 Doha work
and dragged down to where it would make you happy
and satisfied. why don’t we all start picking up on the rest of the agencies and bring down the temple on every bodies head. so we all be even happier and can sleep the long nights because we are the people of principle and we want to protect award shows and the region. we want to feel happy that no one is better than anyone else.

so as we are all on it lets bring them all down, and let the senior people from the leading agencies who start sending emails and provoked the whole thing be even happier seeing justice take place even in their side of the court. wouldn’t it just be fair.

so here we go, please tell me that all these clients have for real commissioned the agency, approved the ads, paid for production, and ran the campaigns,….etc

we will raise the questions and dubai lynx would do the
investigation, and bring them downt:

1) Y&R Dubai – ZEISS LENS – FLY campaignl
for sure this is real work and the lens client wanted to promote the lens power in 2009 where lot of people still use lens for many reasons and it is now or never. the market now and with the financial crises can afford the lens client to spend money on production for lens campaign. brilliant. this one is real client brief work. isn’t it!
who can doubt this one and why?

2) leo burnett dubai – tide campaign
yes with the real beautiful ads i see from P&G WORK ON TV AND PRESS this is for sure real work, client asked for it, and presented, approved, ran for couple of weeks and months like P&G usually run their campaigns. brilliant work P&G and leo

3) TBWA DUBAI – HANSAPLAST PLASTER
yes sure we have been in the region forever and ever. we always saw ads and posters for plaster everywhere. it is usual for plaster brands to do press and outdoor campaigns for it self and invest in it to drive more sales. and the proof that both JWT and
TBWA are doing the same campaign see it is really in demand to do plaster campaigns these days.

4)TBWA Dubai – Pattex glue
well done you brought in a product brand from the dead in the market – last seen in the 80’s
and the client suddenly requested the agency to campaign for pattex glue because it is part of the yearly marketing plan. and the agency came up with this clear benefit for the market which the client instantly approved and invested in to increase sales in the market since it is available everywhere.

5) TBWA Dubai – Eight resturant
what is wrong with TBWA dubai doing campaign as such for client in beirut. since they are doing it for very cheap resturant by the corner who would for sure have the budget to advertise during financial crises as the tourism in beirut is booming in winter and they for sure can afford such campaigns with a very clear message and idea that would click with everyone and drive traffic into the resturant. sure thing

6) Y&R Dubai – landrover gear
yeah land rover car ads are all over the place in dubai and the region and you know what it is the perfect time to advertise landrover gear in the region because cars and land rover market specifically is booming and car sales did not get affected by the financial crises at all. and the biggest target audience in the region are not the gulf nation whom wear thoubs even on off road. no it is the mass, and these people are very interested in land rover clothing and gear.
so the client yes asked for it, approved it, and run it. how could you suspect this one
come on. it is Y&R and Land rover, they have this client. this is real work man.

7) leo burnett dubai – fujifilm
yes we all know that they have fuji film, and they spend heavily and they always do brand campaigns like these and we see them everywhere don’t we. this was just another campaign which leo dubai are used to do for fuji film and if you cant remember even in the 2008 lynx we saw couple of campaigns as good as this one and nothing is fishy around it at all. why would lynx investigate this one why?

8)Genius LOCI Dubai – Westin Dubai
this was one of the very very very few copy campaigns and for a resturant, so lets award it and you know what poor Genius LOCI they don’t have many entries and they are not a threat to any one so it will pass, and nothing fishy about it, resturants like westin dubai advertise heavily in dubai and long copy ads is their style it is not a favor from the resturant or anything like that, or maybe the owner is a friend of someone in the agency no. it is a real client and we see their campaigns everyday in dubai, no i meant every now and then.

9) tribe – U2ED IMAX
i have seen this run in dubai! like all the campaigns that imax run to drive traffic into the movie theatre or for films, this one is for real and it was for U2 3D IMAX silly people. it is for real.

10) impact bbdo beirut – sharp
no beirut don’t do scam. this one is real not been done in photoshop just for the sake of taking the picture, you can call the supermarket and ask them they will tell you yes, and the client approved it. you know sharp are very active in beirut unlike the rest of the region

11) FP7 Dubai – mcdonalds
come on guys, you always see such ads for mcdonalds in the street specially the price driven ads. they don’t usually have the price tag big and the sandwich bigger than the space no they dont. it always clean and neat like this one this is typical ad fro mcdonalds and am sure that the client saw it and it ran like the rest of their campaigns

12) FP7 Dubai – leatherman
are you joking me, we see this brand everywhere on the streets it is not like the first time ever in the history of this region. and am sure it is as real as the Chiqueta radio campaign. come on guys just focus on the grand prix and spray this one is for real

13) leo burnett – GMC CADIA
THIS ONE FOR SURE IS REAL because we always see GMC ads run like this in the region, and am sure the client seen it and approved because it is his style, and it was done to appeal to the consumer in GCC that is why it has been shot else where. and YOU KNOW WHAT AMERICANS CARS AND GMC ARE NOT HAVING ANY CRISES AND ALMOST BROKE NOT AT ALL, THEY STILL HAVE MARKETING BUDGET TO DO THESE AWARDS CAMPAIGNS, dont you think.

14) JWT Dubai – virgin megastore
poor thing they only have this one made it it must be real work and client brief because JWT are very honest agency and do not do scam or even proactive they only work on real briefs from the client and they dont copy ads god forbid because if they do the people will get fired. and you know what virgin are very very interested in doing ads for the kids books section. and knowing virgin and the constant campaigns they do every
day, it is part of the agenda for this year to promote kids music books. you fool.

15) JWT dubai – hotwheels
oh my god they work for Mattel , how cool i wish i work for JWT Dubai they dont do scam at all.

and shame this year bra campaign for the lingerie store did not make it like last year naked woman in the breast, bottom front and back area campaign that was real and ran for sure press and outdoor but in the store and there is nothing sensitive about it to have naked women.

15/B) and buy the way all their work for the DM
is real work and done for real and you dare proof otherwise they are not cheap mockup done by the agency and the agency took the pictures for it in the locations and did the board and the jury bought it, for real.
you know what it is not really important, DM. because it doesn’t count in agency of the year and anyone can get away with anything there. and it is not the bird that fly in JWT office told me so, no at all, he told me it is all real he he he it is real work. but who cares if it is not. come on it is JWT. honest.

16) TBWA Dubai – hand dial hand sanitizer
you know what it is a fast moving product, to boost it even more the client decided to do this campaign to boost the sales. or is it the opposite! and the client have seen it and approved like all the other campaigns what do you think, for sure

again this is another proof that we can do the same, check our client for this one HENKEL PDC EGYPT SAE . we can do it.

have a nice hunt MENA.

PS: the proof will be uploaded soon lets see who is after this time lynx or us again! I do keep my promises

how could i forget this one Mr. Lynx. the GREAT PRINT GRAND PRIX WINNER. that is on its own a piece of art to make it to the grand prix.

17) first Hamdallh the creative director of Leo Burnett Cairo – brave man he is –
claimed during the Lynx debate while Lynx staff are watching and just before the awards ceremony that “Heinz didn’t commission or even like his Heinz Campaign (which won the GP later on)” well this is an honest man at least he admit it and get rewarded for it.

the equity of heinz ketchup is that ” it is thick ketchup..etc” all the campaigns in the world have been done around this single minded and focused proposition, however leo burnett wanted to change that in an awards campaign. and you know what. the client approved it just for the sake of the awards ONLY, at the end it is only one insertion, or was it more with on wrong equity. what a great piece! and a great reward! way to go lynx!

both agencies are in Dubai, working on the same product category for years and “suddenly” they both come up with the same solution and art-direction and participate in the same award show!!! what are the odds to that?

take into consideration that both agencies work is featured in the copy-cat section of this blog with a heavier contribution from JWT Dubai; which would explain why they did not hold on to their guns and withdrawn their entry (that would make for an interesting story) i mean if they did not copy it then why did they back-off?!!!

In any case at least this story has a happy ending. TBWA\RAAD went on to win a Cannes Lion with this entry. Congratulations.

Louai Alasfahani

ANUBIS was a very old god of the ancient Egyptians, universally worshipped throughout the land and became considered the gatekeeper and ruler of the underworld; the “Guardian of the veil“ he was “Lord of the Cleansing Room” and the opener of the roads of the North. “He observed the weighing of the deceased’s heart against the feather of Maat [Truth] and reported his findings to the jury of the gods.

CONTACT

louai@paragonmc.com

Skype: louai.asfahani

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